The Rhythm of Life and Work: Introduction to a Special Issue in Honor of Professor Christer Lundh

Stefan Öberg, Susanna Fellman, Klas Rönnback

Abstract

Christer Lundh, professor in Economic History at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, turns 65 in April 2017. This is the age of retirement in the Swedish public’s mind. It has really only been the age for retirement in Sweden since 1967, and since 1994 has been an option rather than a rule (Johannisson and Philp 2015). Given the usual short and slow-changing historical memory of people (including economic historians), and the Swedish tendency to put extra weight on the events and situation between c.1967 and 1994—a, this far, peak era of the Swedish equality and welfare systems—when defining our self-image, it is however unsurprising that 65 is still considered the age of retirement. Fortunately, Lundh has no plans to stop working. On the contrary, he has instead recently initiated several new research projects. We, his colleagues, proposed this special issue for Lundh, not as a thank you for the work he has done, but rather as a way to express our gratitude and admiration for the work he continues to do. Our intention here is also to present and bring attention to some of the topics that Lundh has been working on through a set of research articles written by colleagues and former students of his. The set of articles included in the special issue expands on Lundh’s work and the current research frontier in these fields.